Almost a week after he allegedly nabbed a 17-year-old girl while she was cycling to her tuition class and raped her in Cooch Behar, a 23-year-old man was arrested on Saturday. Amar Das was booked under section 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. An FIR had been lodged against him on the basis of a complaint filed by the victim’s relative in a women’s police station.

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“We had been trying to trace him. Continuous raids were conducted and we finally arrested him today,” Anup Jaiswal, SP, Cooch Behar, told The Indian Express. According to the victim’s family, the teenager left home last Monday at around 2 pm and went cycling to her tuition class three kilometres away, when the accused allegedly stopped her on the way and abducted her. He then allegedly took her to a forested area in Kotwali, Gopalpur, and raped her. In the evening, a neighbour found her lying unconscious near her home.

Her family then rushed her to a hospital, where police recorded her statement. The family is still in shock.

Relatives of the victim alleged that Das would regularly harass young girls in the area.

A few days ago, two minor girls from the same family were raped by two youths with whom they had gone out on Kali Puja night in Mathabhanga, Cooch Behar. One of the victim’s hanged herself to death, while the other consumed poison, but survived.